Betting on Love
by KiraLiven
Summary: The new half-bloods witness Percy and Annabeth fight. They see the Greeks betting on their relationship. Her Aphrodite side kicks in. Percabeth!


They were arguing. They had been for a couple hours now. Even though it had been about a day and a half after they had been reunited, they were still arguing. And it seemed pretty serious.

"What's up?" Piper asked. Jason shrugged.

"All I know is that they're arguing." He replied. "I don't know what about."

"Should we interfere?" Piper was worried.

"Why should we?" Leo grinned. "It's fun."

"At whose expense, Valdez?" Hazel snapped. The seven (Excluding Percy and Annabeth) had quickly become good friends, especially Hazel and Leo.

"No one's!" He argued. Everyone rolled their eyes and transferred their attention to the couple in front of them.

"What in the name of Poseidon is your problem?" Percy yelled.

"Right now, YOU!" Annabeth retorted.

"Right, and what exactly did I do this time?" He asked sarcastically.

"You know what you did wrong, you stupid son of a sea god!"

Piper began to really worry. Was it normal for couples to argue like that? "Guys, I've been thinking, and maybe we should stop them before something really happens." She said nervously, eyeing the arguing pair.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rachel, who was passing by and heard her, stopped her. "No way, not unless you want to get killed." Then she left, as if satisfied that was all she needed to know. But it wasn't.

"Hey," Frank suddenly said. "Is it just me, or are all the Greeks just ignoring them? I mean, if I was a Greek, I'd be worried. Aren't they the leaders of your camp?" Jason shrugged.

"Let's ask them."

"Leo, what are you doing?" Hazel asked suspiciously.

"Well, you see those two people standing over there?" Leo replied, pointing to the Stolls standing in the shadows of the woods and grinning evilly. Hazel (And everyone else) nodded. "I just saw them exchanging money, and some other Greeks were there, exchanging money too. I'm gonna see what they're doing. Wanna come?" Everyone nodded and followed Leo to the Stolls.

"Oh, hey guys. Girls." Conner said. "We're having a poll on when they'll break up."

"What?" Piper asked, incredulous. "You're betting on Percy and Annabeth's love life?"

"Well yeah, no one else's love life is as predictable and funny." Travis replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"See?" Leo said, looking at them angrily. "They think so too!"

"That's preposterous!" Hazel exclaimed, ignoring Leo.

"No, it's a good way to make money." Travis replied.

"Hey! Stolls!" Grover came running to them. "What's the poll up to now?"

"Well—"

"Whatever, I bet they'll break up at this fight in five minutes. Then, before lunch, they'll get back together." The Stolls shook on it and jotted it down.

"Wait, you're their best friend, Grover." Jason started.

"And even _you_ are betting on their love life?" Frank finished.

"Well, yeah, easiest way to make money. Anyway, they always crawl back to each other, so no worries. Give them five minutes after they break up, and Percy'll start to miss Annabeth and five to ten minutes after that, he'll have apologized. It depends on how bad the fight, and they'll be back together within thirty minutes of breaking up." Piper studied the couple.

"You actually decided to IGNORE me," Annabeth started, "And just go off on another quest! WITHOUT the curse of Achilles!"

"Well I'm sorry Annabeth, for CARING about people!" Percy spat at her.

"No," Piper stated, "They're going to break up—if at all—but then get back together almost immediately afterward." The Stolls looked at her, surprised. "But I'm not betting on it." She added.

"I still can't believe you! Do you care so much for other people that you can't even care about YOURSELF and your OWN wellbeing?" Annabeth screeched. They had gathered quite a large crowd, mostly Romans, and almost all the Greeks looked as if they were searching for someone. "You never think, do you?" There was silence as Percy stared at her, and Piper knew that he had figured it out.

"Annabeth…" Percy said quietly, and sighed. "I get it."

"No you don't! You don't get it!" Annabeth was still angry though, whether Percy was or not.

"Yes I do. You're mad that I went—"

"Yes, did you actually just realize that now?"

"Let me finish."

"No, let _me_ finish! If you seriously just got that now, you are a _lot_ more obtuse than I thought." Percy sighed, but had enough in him to stay silent. "Percy, I'm serious. But I guess you're not. You know, I can't believe you would actually go on that quest, after I SPECIFICALLY said not to! I told you to stay put! Can't you just heed _one_ thing I ask of you?"

"Annabeth, I _do _know what this is about. You're mad because that was the first quest I had without you." Percy's voice was soft, and Piper could barely hear it, but Annabeth's face turned from livid to remorseful.

"How could you, Percy? How could you just forget me like that?" Tears were pooling into Annabeth's eyes, and she blinked them away.

"I never forgot you, Annabeth. You matter more than anything in the world to me." Percy pulled her into his arms, and she sobbed quietly into his chest. She gripped his shirt, as if she was afraid he would disappear.

"Before I came to Camp Jupiter, I had the choice of going into the ocean and living with my father. I almost did, too. I almost took the life I had declined at the end of the war. But then I remembered you, and how I had met you at camp. I thought… I thought that you might be here. So I came. For you."

Piper knew Annabeth was smiling through her tears, and saw her move her arms around to the small of his back. Percy squeezed his eyes shut, as if the movement had hurt him, and suppressed a shudder. But he smiled.

"I love you." She saw him whisper to Annabeth. He kissed the top of her head, and she slowly brought her head up to kiss him.

Piper turned around and smiled smugly. "See?" She told the Stolls, who were gaping at her.

"Well yeah, but you're a daughter of Aphrodite. Of course you'd be right." Connor scoffed. Piper rolled her eyes, but then smiled.

"I have a question. Since I didn't bet anything, but there's no one who bet who got it right, who gets all the money?" The Stolls narrowed their eyes at her, but reluctantly handed over the money. Piper thanked them and pocketed it all.


End file.
